


Instincts

by Honeyjoe



Category: Onward (2020)
Genre: Barlian, Brotherly Love, Confession, First Kiss, Fluff, Kissing, Lightfootcest, M/M, Sibling Incest
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-23
Updated: 2020-04-23
Packaged: 2021-03-02 03:54:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,341
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23798803
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Honeyjoe/pseuds/Honeyjoe
Summary: Ian asks Barley for advice on confessing your feelings.  Barley tells him to be bold and follow his instincts.  Barley doesn’t know how that will affect him later.
Relationships: Barley Lightfoot/Ian Lightfoot
Comments: 12
Kudos: 101





	Instincts

**Author's Note:**

> Just wanted to write something super fluffy and sweet. I love first confessions and forehead kisses so this is the culmination of that. Enjoy.

It was a relatively quiet day at the Lightfoot household. Barley’s mom was off for another girl’s day with the Manticore leaving Barley and Ian the house to themselves. Barley didn’t have much planned for the day beyond practicing his guitar and working on his next Quests of Yore campaign. However, while making himself a snack in the kitchen, his rather chill schedule changed when Ian asked him a question.

“What? How do you tell someone you like them?”Barley watched his brother shift nervously on his heels, his face a little rosier than usual, as he simply nodded.Of all the questions he expected him to ask, this wasn’t one of them.

“Y-yeah, I was just wondering is all.”Ian said as he shrugged his shoulders.

Barley beamed as he waved his hands, his voice dropping to his usual dramatic tenor, “Doth brother have his eyes set on a fair maiden?What sweet lass could have taken his heart so swiftly?”

“Ok, never mind,” Ian quickly turned on his heels to leave the kitchen.

Barley quickly got in front of him, cutting his exit short.“Wait, wait, hold on!Come on, you came to me for help.Tell me!”Barely could barely contain his excitement as he placed his hands on his brother’s shoulders.“I’ve read about nearly every epic romantic quest a knight has gone on throughout history.I’m practically an expert on this kind of thing. Also, I have actually dated before.So there’s also that.”

Ian softly smiled as he brushed Barley’s hands off his shoulders.“I was just wonder how you do it is all,” he asked, voice quiet.

Barley brought his hand to his chin, lost in thought.“Well, back then, to declare your love for someone, one would go on an epic quest to demonstrate your seriousness.Some adventurers would brave the deepest and scariest dungeons to retrieve a jewel as beautiful as their loved ones.Others would slay the fiercest monsters in the land and present its head at their door declaring their love.”

“...ok, what about now?”

“I mean, you could still do that.Though I’m sure some of that is technically illegal.I guess being direct is probably the safer approach compared to life threatening monsters, or trapped filled dungeons, or lord help you, a gelatinous cube.”

“Doesn’t feel like it honestly.”

Barley patted his brother’s shoulder as his drifted back to the counter, “Well that’s just how it is.Confessing is never easy, little bro.”Spreading a layer of jam on the bread, Barley licked away at some wayward strawberry that got on his fingers, “It’s you at your most vulnerable.”

Ian looked away, his face red.“I get that!But how do you tell them?I mean, how have you done it?Realistically.”

“Hmm, last guy I told....hmmmm.Well, I asked them to hang out just as friends, went to their favorite place, the aquarium.Uh, we walked, checked out all the cool fishes and then when it felt right, I just told him everything I liked about him, let him know how he made me feel.How happy he made me.Granted, this was before I found out he’s a thieving jerk who just takes your favorite 20 sided die without asking and loses it, but the confession still stands.”

Ian slumped over, “So just be honest.”

“No, be bold.Be brave!Look them in their eyes and tell them everything you’ve wanted to say!”Barley slapped down the other slice of bread and quickly took a big bite of his sandwich.“I mean, if you know them.Don’t do all this to a person you just met.”

“N-no, I’ve uh, known them for awhile now.”

“You gonna tell me anything about them?” Barley asked after taking another bite, his cheeks full of jam and bread. 

“They’re just...really nice. And sweet. And the bravest person I know. I, uh, really look up to them,” Ian said.

“Welp, if it’s coming from you, I’m sure they’ll like you back.I mean, a magical wizard declaring his love?Who would say no to that?”Taking his plate, Barley turned on his heels and started to head for his room.“Just be bold, dude.Ask them to hang and see where it takes ya.It’s like instinct, you’ll know what you want to say when the moment is right,” Barley said as he left his brother in the kitchen alone. 

“Instincts...Hmm...” Ian murmured.

With a belly filled with jam and his hunger satiated, Barley sat at his desk scratching away in his notebook.He had the day to himself and he was more than determined to finish writing his next Quests of Yore campaign.“...and then the undead horde starts to awaken in the walls?Maybe?Or would that be too unbalanced with the fire snakes in the next room?”Breaking him from his fantasy stupor, Barley heard three quiet knocks from the other side of his door.“Hmm?”Cracking just neck and stretching out his limbs, Barley heaved himself from out of his chair and opened his door.“Oh Ian, what’s up?”

Ian just stood there, his cheeks a little red as he stared up at his brother.“Uh, um...”

“Uh, Ian?You ok there?Did you need something?” Barley asked.

“Uh, I just uh, um...”Ian rocked back and forth on his heels as he tried to keep his back straight.

Barley furrowed his brows, “Is everything alright?Did you-“

“Doyouwannawatchamovietonight?!” Ian suddenly yelled.

Barley’s ears flicked back for a moment at the sudden turn in volume.“What?”

Ian coughed to clear his voice, “Do you, uh, want to watch a movie...tonight?”

Barley was surprised at this sudden request, “What did you have in mind?”

Ian scratched the back of his head, his fingers nervously scritching at his blue locks, “Um, I think there is a marathon showing tonight on the classics channel?That favorite movie series of yours is gonna run all of them tonight.”

Barley’s eyes widened as he grabbed his brother by the shoulders, his heavy paws nearly toppling him over, “The Glorious Quests of Sir Percival the Clumsy?!They’re showing all 3 movies tonight?!”Barley could barely contain the excitement in his voice.“That’s my favorite movie anthology!”

“I-I know, so I figured, maybe I could make some popcorn and we could just binge the whole thing?” Ian managed to squeak out.

“Dude, heck yeah!Oh man, I haven’t watched it in like, forever!And I thought you didn’t really like classics like that?” Barley asked.

“Oh well, I-I dunno, figured I’d give it a shot.”

Barley beamed, “Well you’re in luck brother!You are in for the greatest 5 and half hours of your life!”

Ian gulped, “I certainly hope so.Uh, so I’ll let you know when it’s about to start.I know you’re busy with your uh, campaign and stuff.” 

“Oh yeah, thanks!I’ll see ya later tonight?”

“Tonight.Yes.Tonight,” Ian repeated blankly.A second or two passed before Ian slinked away from his brother’s door and to his room.

“Oh man, I’m so excited now!” Barley exclaimed as he jumped back to his desk, his head racing with new ideas for his campaign and eagerness for the marathon.

Eventually, the hours ticked by and one campaign roughed out later, Barley was back in the kitchen, prepping snacks.

“Now you two don’t keep the volume up too high.Me and Bronco got to get some sleep!” Laurel said, leaning in on the kitchen wall.

“Don’t worry, mom!And are you sure you guys don’t wanna watch with us?” Barley asked.

Ian quickly chimed in as jumped into the kitchen, “Uhhh they wouldn’t wanna watch it now.Bronco’s got an early morning shift and mom, don’t you have uh, wing aerobics with Corey in the morning?”

“Well SHE does, I’m just gonna be doing squats and jumps beside her.So, no movie marathon for me tonight.Enjoy the movie boys,” Laurel said as she waved them goodnight.

“Alright, your loss! Now come on, Ian! We’re gonna miss the opening credits!” Barley gushed. Grabbing the popcorn and snacks, Barley hefted the sweet and salty assortment to the living room table where the TV had already been primed to the proper channel. With the lights off and only the glow of the television, Barley plopped himself into the cozy confines of the couch. “Ian, you got the drinks?” Barley yelled out, not bothering to tear his eyes away from the screen.

“Y-yeah!” Ian replied, soda and cups in hand. Setting them down onto the table, Ian also sat on the couch, though looking far more uncomfortable that his brother. “So uh, you ready?”

Barley was already munching his way through the bowl of popcorn, his fingers buttery and slick.“Oh heck yeah I am!Percivaaaaal!” Barley shouted, “The best knight ever!”

Ian smiled, “You really like this movie, huh?”

“What?” Barley said, finally looking at Ian.“Oh yeah!This is one of the few movies that actually gets fairly historically accurate with its spells and artifacts!Nowadays, producers think you can just wave a stick and digitize the spell effects later with whatever sparks or lights you want and it doesn’t matter, but it does!” Barley preached.“They actually researched ancient texts and historical documents of magic for this movie!And it was made like, only 20 years ago!Ya know, I bet you could learn a thing or two from this movie too!Now that you got a staff and everything, you can see what some spells you haven’t used yet look like in action!Well, as close to it as they could get.Still special effects and all, but!Historically accurate special effects!” Barley beamed.

Ian just stared at his brother, smiling at the torrent of information that was flowing from Barley.“Uh, yeah.I’ll definitely keep notes.Um, is the chicken that’s threatening to bite his head off part of the magic too?”

“What?Oh, heh heh, well it is a comedy adventure movie so, I guess not all of it is magic focused.But still a good watch,” Barley admitted.

Ian softly smiled as he turned his attention to the TV, “I’ll hold you to it.”

As the TV droned on throughout the night, flashes of war cries, spell slinging, and the occasional goofy laugh danced on the screen. Barley was throughly entranced by the images before him, so much so that he hadn’t even realize that Ian had scooted himself closer to his side of the couch. He was now only a couple of inches from his own frame.

“...and such, ‘‘tis the end of our journey, Sir Percival.For now...”

“...Wow.Can you believe that it’s already the end of the first movie?Man, it flies by quicker than I remember!” Barley said turning his head to Ian.

Ian quickly snapped his head back to the screen, catching the last laugh on the TV before it faded into the credits.“Uh, yeah!Goes by fast when you’re uh, really into it.”

“You need a quick break?I think there’s like a couple minutes of commercials before the next one starts,” Barley asked in a half yawn, stretching his frame and arms to the sky, his shirt lifting along with them.

Ian’s eyes widened as he kept them glued to the screen, “Uh, noimfineallgoodhere.”

Barley raised his brows, “Okay?Well I’m gonna go grab a glass of water and heat up another bowl of popcorn.”Standing up from the couch, Barley stretched once more before rubbing his belly.Ian kept his eyes straight forward.Stepping to the kitchen, Barley quickly tossed in another bag of popcorn into the microwave before grabbing a glass from the cabinets above.Placing the glass in the sink, he twisted the faucet on so a cold stream of water poured into his glass.Watching the glass cup fill up, Barley wondered what’s was going on Ian.From this morning asking questions about confessing to suddenly wanting to watch a movie.A movie he had never been interested in before.Or even now with how distracted he’s acting.Barley snuck a glance over to his brother who was clearly fidgeting on the couch, his hands clasped tightly in one another.He wondered if he even wanted to watch it anymore.With his glass cup threatening to spill over, Barley snatched it away from the sink, gulping down it’s cool contents in one swift motion.The familiar three beeps of the microwave pulled him from his thoughts as he fetched the buttery snack and emptied it into the plastic bowl.

Returning from his sojourn to the kitchen, Barley carefully set the bowl down on the table before once more plopping himself into the couch.However, this time Ian moved at the same time he did, inching himself even closer to Barley.Their knees just barely grazing one another.Being the constantly arm jabbing, bear hugging, finger gesturing kind of guy that he is, this hardly registered as out of the ordinary for Barley.The TV flashed another commercial as Barley stared into the contents of the steaming popcorn bowl.“Ya know, you don’t have to watch the movie anymore if you don’t want to.I get it, it uh, isn’t really for everyone.”

“Wh-what?No, Barley, I-I want to watch it!I do, I do wanna watch it.”

“Then why have you been so distracted then?I know Percival can kind of be a bit of a doofus, but it’s still a really good movie!” Barley asked, hurt.“I thought you wanted to watch it with me.You’re the one who brought it up!”

“Barley, I do want to watch it with you!I’m just...thinking,” Ian confessed.

“About?

“About you know, what you said this morning,” Ian said, his cheeks getting red.

“This morning?Oh, about you telling that person you liked them?”

“Y-yeah.”

“Oh.What are you still worried about?” Barley asked.“I thought you were gonna just gonna ask them to hang out and tell them?”

“Yeah but!It, it could change everything! Everything!And, that...Barley, that scares me,” Ian spoke, his eyes downcast.

Barley looked at his brother, his eyes filled with worry.He had no idea this task of his hung so heavy in his shoulders.“Ian, you don’t have to tell them, you know.If you’re not ready,” Barley said, his voice soft.

“...I know.But it feels like it’s about to burst out of me and I just don’t, I don’t!Sigh, I don’t want things to get ruined.”

Barley put a hand on Ian’s shoulder and steeled his voice.“Ian.You don’t know what could happen.Yeah, it could get worse.Maybe they won’t like you back.Maybe they stop talking you.Maybe they avoid you entirely.”Ian’s eyes threatened to starting spilling as Barley spoke.But continued on, his voice turning gentle. “But maybe, just maybe it’ll turn out great.They could say that they like you too.That they want to go out with you.That they have always liked you.Good things can happen too.But Ian, you’ll never know if you don’t say something and you’ll only end up hurting yourself the longer you-“

“I like you.”

The TV suddenly burst with life as the opening credits blared onto the screen, bright yellow letters heralding the next next movie, royal trumpets sounding the Sir Percival theme song. Ian’s words hung in the air as spoke them aloud.With the TV screaming to life Barley wasn’t sure what he just said.“What are you-“

Ian snapped his head up finally, his eyes wide and wild.“I like you, Barley.I like you.I don’t know when it happened and I don’t know why, but it did.Everything that I said before is true.I do think you’re sweet and brave and strong and I look up to you.More than anyone in my life.And, I-I don’t know why but lately I’ve been looking at you different.As someone I, more than just care about.As someone that I, that I...”Ian hung his head in guilt as the last few words fell from his mouth.

Barley’s breath held tight in his lungs as Ian spoke struggled to find the words.His head spin at his brothers confession.He likes me?Me?His brother?Barley’s mind couldn’t process this information.Ian has always been his favorite person in the world but he had no idea that Ian would look at him like this.And how it could make himself feel.Barley felt hot, stuffy, scared, and confused all rolled into one.He didn’t know what to say or what to do.He was frozen.On the couch. With his hand on his brother’s shoulder.

“...please don’t hate me.”

These four words broke Barley out of his frozen stupor.With his eyes focused, Barley could see what was in front of him.Ian, with his head hung low and crying.No other sound came from him as large tears fell down from his face and onto the couch.Barley could feel his heart ache.“Ian...” he spoke.

Ian looked up once more, his face even redder as tears streamed down his face.

Barley couldn’t stop himself.Reaching his arms around him, Barley pulled Ian into his warm embrace and hugged him close.Patting his brother’s hair, Barley could feel Ian’s frail frame shake in his arms.Feeling his brother this close to him, feeling his warm body against his, Barley knew what to do.It was instinct.Pulling away from the hug, Barley looked into his brother’s eyes, they shook with worry.Barley could only smile as his gently leaned forward, his hands reaching up and holding him by the cheeks, and kissed Ian on the forehead.He could hear Ian softly gasp as his lips made contact.Slowly his brother stopped shaking.

Breaking the kiss, Barley pulled back again and looked at Ian.His face had no trace of fear any more, only vague confusion.“Barley?” Ian spoke.

Barley could still only smile as he started to pull Ian closer to him.This time, he began to lean back onto the arm of the couch, his head resting easily against the arm frame as he brought his brother to rest on his chest.Settling one hand on Ian’s back with the other stroking his hair, Barley took a deep inhale, letting Ian feel the rise and fall of his chest as he settled into a comfortable position.

Ian finally spoke, his eyes just barely turning upward to see Barley’s face.“D-does this mean...?”

Barley brought his lips to Ian head and gave it another light kiss before settling back into position. “Yeah. It does.” Barley gave it a breath, “I like you too.” He could feel Ian suddenly relax against his belly as he said those words aloud. As if a weight had been lifted, Ian could only let out a shaking sigh. “You aren’t gonna steal my favorite 20 sided die, are you?” Barley asked seriously.

Ian laughed as he rubbed his cheek against Barley’s chest.“Heh heh, no.I promise,” he said relieved.

“Ok, then yeah I like you.”Ian could only laugh.“Do you still wanna watch the movie?” Barley asked.

“Yes,” Ian answered, his voice dripping with happiness.

Barley tried to focus on the TV for a moment, with Percival running wild through an open plain, but he found himself unable to focus.Distracted with the person he loved resting so easily in on his chest.Ian turned his chin in that moment.Their eyes locked for a second, both wet with tears of relief and happiness.Ian inched forward slightly before Barley just pulled him upand kissed him.His lips still salty from the popcorn but still so warm and soft.And then he kissed him again.And again.And again.And again.Over and over as the movie droned on into the night. 


End file.
